Family of Lies: Sebastian (40 page)

Feoras snatched May up by the back of her dress and held her away from him.

Trenton jammed the ring on his finger and pointed at the priest. “Continue!”

The priest looked at Sebastian and then at May. He sighed and said, “Do you, Trenton Keyes, accept Sebastian Orwell as your husband?”

“Yes.”

The priest turned to Sebastian. “Do you, Sebastian Orwell, accept Trenton Keyes as your husband?”

“Not particularly, but I can’t say no,” Sebastian said after seeing no point in keeping up the charade. Shouts and running feet broke out in the hall, and Trenton gritted his teeth.

“I’m on it,” Dalia said. “My condolences, Sir Orwell, for the family member you’re about to lose.” When she walked away, Sebastian heard her mutter, “Gods, please let it be his mother.”

“I hope you die!” May shouted from the back of the room. Feoras shook her, but she went on. “I hope your balls fall off and you get the plague!”

“Sebastian,” Trenton growled out.

“May,” Sebastian called out to his niece. “Thank you for being brave and trying to save me, but seeing you hurt will make me sadder than marrying Trenton.”

“All right,” May whispered. “But he’s still a shithead.”

“Charming,” Trenton said.

There was finally silence, and the priest continued with shoulders sagging and halfheartedly blessed their union. “You are now bound as husbands,” he finished.

Trenton grabbed Sebastian’s hand at “husbands” and dragged Sebastian out of the room. The hall was clear, but they still heard shouting and more noises coming from outside. “Where’s the nearest bed?” Trenton asked his guards.

“A priest’s room is only a few doors down,” a merc said while staring at Sebastian’s face. “The second door on the right.”

Trenton grabbed Sebastian, and despite knowing the danger to his family, Sebastian couldn’t force his feet to go in that room.

“Stop that!” Magic surrounded Sebastian, and he was thrown into the room. Hitting the floor, Sebastian slipped a small metal cylinder into his hand. Luckily, Dalia hadn’t seen him sneak it out of his clothes and into the tub. It had sat with Turren’s ring in his pants pocket. Trenton pulled him to his feet, and euphoria washed over Sebastian.
There is nothing wrong with being in Trenton’s arms. May was being her usual bratty self, and I need to calm down.
As these new thoughts invaded his mind, Trenton led Sebastian to the bed and pushed him on the mattress. Trenton laid on top of him, pressing their mouths together and sliding his hands down Sebastian’s body.

Don’t let him find the ring.
That thought broke the spell over Sebastian like water drenching him. He gasped as his senses returned, but Trenton apparently took it as pleasure and kissed down Sebastian’s collarbone. Sebastian closed his eyes so Trenton wouldn’t know he was free and rubbed the cylinder in his hands. It lengthened while he twisted it, and a sharp point came out of its end. It was still squat and had a ways to unravel, so Sebastian endured Trenton capturing his lips again and moving his hips against Sebastian’s. Sebastian twisted faster, not caring if Trenton caught on. A thin spike as long as a knitting needle finally reached its full length, and Sebastian gripped its bottom.
Stabbing behind Trenton’s ear is the only way I’ll live.
He opened his eyes and smiled, moving his hips with Trenton’s and sucking on his tongue. Trenton groaned in his mouth, and Sebastian slid his other arm up Trenton’s back.

“W
HY
AREN
’
T
you with Sebastian?” Lady Orwell asked Queen Anne as they launched magical and arrow attacks from opposite ends of the temple’s dining hall.

Queen Anne’s head popped up behind the table, and she threw another blue fireball at Trenton’s soldiers. “I stumbled upon a guarded room and found three kids. I figured they had to be your grandchildren.”

“Three?” Alice called out. “Brennan, May, Terrian, Broden!” When only three of her children answered back, more arrows flew into the soldiers.

“Retreat! They’re monsters!” someone on the other side shouted.

“Shut up and keep fighting!” Dalia ordered as she threw a smoking object at the Orwells.

Diana raised her hand, and the object swerved and turned back to the soldiers. Screams filled the air as its smoke burned whomever it touched. “Not the brightest magelight to form, are you?”

“We outnumber them, you fools!” Dalia screamed. “Overwhelm them and be done with it.” A group rushed toward the Orwells, but Mernon stood with ten arrows in one hand and fired shot after shot without pausing.

“Mernon the Black, the greatest assassin in Larnlyon?” Dalia uttered before Alice’s ax cracked through her forehead.

Alice glared at her husband. “Business or pleasure?”

“Business,” Mernon said. “She asked about the latter, but I find parts trafficking disgusting. I mean, who wants to touch eyeballs and hearts all day? Just stab a person and move along.”

After Dalia fell, the other soldiers dropped their weapons and fled.

James stood and crossed his arms. “The assassin part isn’t news to you, Alice.”

“Not everything is your business, James,” Alice said. “All of you keep your mouths shut about it.”

“Why do they call you Black?” Kevin asked, ignoring his sister.

Mernon scratched his head. “It’s nothing special. Everyone in the order has Black added to their name.”

Lord Orwell frowned. “Do you follow Guild rules?”

“Of course,” Mernon said. “No children and no innocents.”

Lord Orwell shrugged. “I’m good with it. No one is perfect.” He clapped his marriage-son on the back.

“I don’t get it,” Pratchett said. “If you’re a big-time assassin, why do you let her order you around?”

“It’s called keeping up appearances,” Alice said. “No one’s going to believe he’s an assassin when they see us together.”

“What about those blabbermouths?” Pratchett pointed to the children who were now clinging to their mother’s skirt.

“We told them that every time we argue, we’re expressing our love for each other. No one can know or bad people will take their papa away,” Mernon said.

Broden leaned forward and whispered, “They’ll come too if we don’t eat our vegetables.”

James’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?” he asked his sister.

“Don’t judge me,” Alice said. “Their hair and nails are shiny as can be.”

Pratchett snorted. “I’m a horrible person and I’m judging you.”

Lord Orwell clapped his hands. “No more quarrelling, and let’s find the rest of the family.”

“Where do we start?” Kevin asked when his family cautiously stuck their heads out the door.

“This is what happens when scoundrels prevent true love!” a woman shouted from their right.

Queen Anne pointed her sword in the direction of the voice. “I have no idea who that is, but I like her.”

Kevin smiled. “Emily. Maybe my husband is close by too. After you, Your Majesty.”

She and Kevin ran down the hall while Pratchett shook his head. “I never want to fall in love.”

The Orwells followed the two, but Kevin and Queen Anne stopped at a juncture in the hall. Arrows whizzed by, while down the other hall, Demetrius and Kraven frantically stuffed bottles with cloths and set them on fire. Once ablaze, they threw the bottles down the hall or outside. Ophelia sat behind Kraven giving directions on when best to throw them. Emily and Rebecca, wearing stolen armor, guarded one hallway entrance and Luke the other.

“We could use arrows!” Luke shouted to his husband.

“On their way!” Kevin shouted back. He took a bow and quiver from a dead merc and stood at the end of their hallway with Alice at his back. “I aim high and you low,” he whispered. Alice nodded and kneeled at his side. Both of them notched arrows, and Kevin mouthed down from three. On
one
, they shot down one side, pulled back, and then shot down the other.

Queen Anne picked up two shields from the dead and ran into the juncture. With her shields pointed in both directions at their attackers, fire flowed off her body as she chanted. Two dogs of blue fire formed and ran down both sides. There were cries to run and the sound of boots retreating. Kevin glanced down the hall and saw it quickly emptying.

“Did you find Sebastian?” Kraven asked as he threw another bottle out the window.

“No,” Lord Orwell said. “He must be on an upper floor. What are you throwing at?” He walked to Kraven’s side and looked over Kraven’s shoulder. Trenton’s soldiers were spread out, trying to avoid the exploding bottles, and couldn’t get to the entrance. “That is smart thinking.”

“I know,” Demetrius said. “I don’t know how we get upstairs. We need a force to hold the hallway so nobody can come up behind us, and the queen is needed to fight Trenton.”

“Demetrius?” Kraven called out. “Either I drank too much liquor or that’s Cecilia’s husband.” He pointed out the window, and as the Orwells joined him, a band of trolls launched themselves at the mercenaries. “That is him.”

“I don’t know how long it will take them to reach us. That’s still a large force out there,” Lady Orwell said.

Boots stomping down the hall made them run to the middle. In bright armor, Captain Pembrost led the new arrivals, and the queen waved him over.

“Upstairs we go,” Kevin said.

“Wait!” Captain Pembrost shouted as the Orwells turned to go. “Have you seen the prince?”

Lord Orwell frowned. “You just got here and you’ve already lost the prince? You are the world’s worst babysitter.”

Captain Pembrost grunted in frustration. “I don’t have time for this.” He sprinted past the Orwells and ran up the stairs.

T
HE
SPIKE
’
S
point almost touched Trenton’s neck as Sebastian adjusted his grip. Right there was the perfect spot. Trenton suddenly jumped off Sebastian, and Sebastian shoved the spike up his sleeve. Trenton spun and faced the door, but a portion of the wall blew out. Turren stepped into the room with his broadsword unsheathed.

“Get away from him, you bastard!”

Sebastian’s head fell on the pillow and he covered his face.
So close to killing him and Turren picked this time to show up?
He sat up and got off the bed.

Trenton frowned. “You’re not under my spell.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and removed the ring from his pocket. “Your people suck at searching prisoners.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Trenton said. “He dies and you will never hope again.”

If I wound him, maybe Turren and I can link our magic to finish him off.
But for that to work, Sebastian needed an opening. “Is my family safe?” he asked Turren, hoping to distract Trenton.

“All have been retrieved. I gave May to one of our wizards, and the rest of your family is with my mother,” Turren said. He pointed his sword at Trenton. “How dare you force Sebastian to marry you! He is kind, sweet, heroic, and would never do anything as awful as—” Sebastian rushed Trenton and stabbed him in the neck. The spike didn’t go into the kill spot, and Trenton’s eyes glowed with rage. Pure magic struck at Sebastian, slamming him into a wall and making him slide to the floor, stunned.

A powerful mass of magic gathered where Trenton and Turren stood. Red light filled Sebastian’s vision. “Turren, run,” he whispered. A white light flickered near his throat, and Sebastian struggled to move. He touched the amulet and warmth filled his hand. An entity so vast that it made Sebastian’s breath stutter invaded his mind. It took hold of his magic, and instead of nearby wood or plants calling to him, life of all kinds answered the joined magics.

Like the amulet’s namesake, the heart of every living thing in that castle was Sebastian’s to command. He could imbue the exhausted with power, or stop every heart from beating. Sebastian looked up, and Trenton stared down at him with wonder on his face.
Oh Gods, he feels it too.
The long needle dropped out of Trenton’s neck, and the wound began closing. Sebastian reached for the power to stop Trenton’s heart, but a barrier blocked him from using it. Despite Sebastian’s failure, magic flowed out of the amulet, and through their mixed auras, Sebastian felt Trenton commanding the magic to do his bidding. The wizard pointed his finger at Turren, and life seeped out of the prince’s heart.

No! That’s not what I want!
Sebastian clutched the amulet, hoping the damn thing would listen to him.
Turren is the last person I want dead. You’re around my stupid neck! Do what I say!

Blue light sputtered on the end of Turren’s sword. Like Queen Anne’s, Turren’s magic dripped from the sword in flames, but Turren’s flames were wider and longer.

“Turren! Drop the damn sword and protect your life!” Sebastian shouted.

Turren rubbed his chest with a grimace, and looked from Trenton to Sebastian. He shook his head. “He has no right to hurt you like this.” The flames died down, and Turren stumbled.

The room blurred as Sebastian struggled to his feet.
I’m not letting this arrogant shit take Turren away from me. And you’re not using me to do it.
Sebastian tugged at the amulet’s chain, not caring that he scratched his neck badly.
Get off me!
The strange entity in his mind took on a questioning tone like a child who didn’t know what it did wrong.
Whatever you are, you’re killing the man I love.
Something gripped Sebastian from the inside, and it was as if his mind were put into the back of a carriage while a mysterious white figure took the driver’s reins of his body. In that brief moment, it looked through Sebastian’s eyes and felt his hatred for Trenton. It also felt Sebastian’s love for the prince who barely stood on trembling legs. Sebastian blinked, and he was fully in control of his body again.
What in all hells was—
Sebastian collapsed to his knees and threw up the brown mixture of auras binding him to Trenton. When he stopped heaving, Sebastian grasped the amulet and poured Turren’s drained life energy back inside him.